Swiatek, Zverev survive scares as Alcaraz masters Melbourne wind

MELBOURNE : Iga Swiatek and Alexander Zverev both had to fight their way back from the brink of defeat to reach the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday, a day of close shaves and tight matches at Melbourne Park.

Carlos Alcaraz had a less fraught outing on Rod Laver Arena but the 20-year-old was certainly tested as he matched his best previous performance at the year's opening Grand Slam by getting past the second round.

Women's top seed Swiatek had earlier shown all the fight of a four-times Grand Slam champion as she rallied from two breaks down in the final set to beat Danielle Collins 6-4 3-6 6-4.

Swiatek knew she was in for a potentially tricky contest in the opening match on Rod Laver Arena as Collins had beaten her in the Melbourne Park semi-finals in 2022.

The 30-year-old American, who said after the match that she would be retiring this season, came out firing after losing the opening set and Swiatek needed her best tennis to overhaul a 4-1 deficit by rattling off the last five games in the third set.

"Oh my god, honestly, I was already at the airport," said Swiatek.

"I didn't feel like I had control over this match (but) I wanted to fight till the end. I'm happy that I was solid and I just believed till the end."

Men's sixth seed Zverev admitted he was fortunate to prevail 7-5 3-6 4-6 7-6(5) 7-6(7) over Slovakian world number 163 Lukas Klein, whose iron grip on their 4-1/2-hour contest had the German plotting his journey back to Monte Carlo.

"I was thinking there's a Qantas flight at 11 p.m. tonight straight to Dubai and then one to home," Zverev said.

"A lot of the time I was a spectator in the match. I was just witnessing whether he's going to hit a winner or miss."

WEATHER DISRUPTIONS

Rain showers